Wayyyyy OT

[Scott Sheriff]

Looked at a still at their web page, I wouldn’t say this is old timer gear. Looks like it has a color screen for programming, maybe 90’s era. Didn’t look familiar.
Wait…is gear from the 90’s old timer gear now?

Scott Sheriff
Director
SST Digital Media
https://www.sstdigitalmedia.com

[Gary Hazen]

Ampex Vista?

[Don Walker]

Right you are Gary! At this point I’d have Ron Lindeboom tell you what you won, but I think the answer would be nothing! So you have my admiration. I used this type of switcher, as a freelancer at the very unique edit suites at Georgia Power back in the early ’90s. Ampex Vistas, Panasonic D-3, ADO 500, and NEC 1″ machines. Not your usual edit suite fare.
Don Walker

John 3:16

[Mark Maness]

Hey, it could have been one of the Microtime switchers. Do you remember them?

_______________________________

Wayne Carey
Schazam Productions
https://web.mac.com/schazamproductions
schazamproductions@mac.com

[Neil Hurwitz]

I hate to be a stickler by to my recollection is that
there was never an ADO 500
I remember the 100,200,300 all variations of the original ADO
A few years later they came out with the 1000 which kind of
looked like the Vista switcher and was an option on the
Vista to have it incorporated. What is interesting to note here
is that when Ampex introduced the 1000 at NAB they had
hundreds of them stacked up in boxes ready for immediate shipment.
Now if you see a product at NAB your lucky to get a buggy product
before the next NAB. When Chryon introduced the Infinit
they had problems in manufacturing and software that more or less
cratered the company, this was because they killed sales of the then shipping Scribe. In a giant misstep GVG did the same with the famous
GVG 200 switcher. It took them over a year to work out
manufacturing of the molded “Tub” that was its housing. They didn’t
sell to many 300’s after the introduction of the 200

Neil Hurwitz

[Don Walker]

Neil,
The ADO 3000, 2000, &1000 where all in the original ADO form factor with a large monitor and separate control panel. They also built an ADO 500 which was in a panel very similar to the Vista switcher with screen and buttons and joystick all on the same panel. This was probably an answer to the Abekas A-51 which was their low end device. My how the mighty have fallen. Twi of the biggest names of 20 years ago. Huge NAB booths reduced to almost nothing.
Don Walker

John 3:16

[Neil Hurwitz]

You and I are both somewhat correct and incorrect
I did a google search and it seems that what I thought was the
1000 is in actuality the 100 which, was as you say, very much like the
Vista. Google also turned up a picture of a “500” that is similar to the original ADO, however the search only turned up this unit in PAL.
The youngsters here should note that the original ADO cost
$200,000.00 My oh My, how things have changed, so stop whining
over the cost of a 1,000 input card or hard drive.
Mr. Bob Zelin did the installs for me back in the day
so if he were to chime in here I would take it as the final word.

Neil Hurwitz

[Matthew Bradshaw]

Ah but did you have one with a combiner? Ours never worked, or never when I needed it too. If you look here https://www.broadcaststore.com/store/prod_search_results.cfm?category_search=499 they are trying to sell an A51 and have helpfully included the MSRP (40k) in the description. What a bargain!
Matt.

[Sam Cole]

Where I work here in Sydney we use an AMPEX ADO 100 to do aspect ratio conversions for preview playouts.
And in the racks there is a 4 channel AMPEX ADO 3000 with a combiner and it all hasn’t been turned on for 10 years!
We also have an AMPEX Century 2ME 32 input vision switcher that has a built in 16×32 a/v router. It is now only used to feed preview screens.
If we had to power the whole lot up for any length of time we would have to consider our ‘Carbon Trading Offset’!

Sam Cole
On line Mastering Facility
FCP, Avid, Adobe
Sydney, Australia

[Don Walker]

I bet the ADO 3000 sits there in the racks, because somebody remembers how much it costs, and is afraid to throw something that expensive away. I had an old Sony Bvh-2000 sitting in my basement that I moved with me from Georgia to Texas, because I was afraid to throw that EXPENSIVE machine away. I finally gave it to a Panasonic salesman.
Don

John 3:16